Akchar

Samir Akchar artist

A gesture of the hand traces a movement uniting memory and the present time, culture and questioning, with a desire to decipher the diverse nature of being-in-common, of difference and harmony between individuals. As far back as he can remember, Samir Akchar has never stopped scribbling, then sketching, drawing, painting, pasting…

In the 1975’s, the artist left Syria to spend time in Egypt, France, Libya, England and Senegal, until finally settling in France where he has been based for 19 years. His work is also a reflection of his experience and is surprising in the apparent simplicity of the strokes which dance in a variety of rhythms on the paper support. By registering his original culture and those adopted when travelling around, when discovering something new, when meeting new people, Samir Akchar invents a unique form of aesthetics. Through his work, he designs a new language. Closely linked initially to classical Arabic calligraphy, which he studied with Ahmad Soultan at the American University of Cairo, his work soon turned away and distanced itself from same.

In the course of the different series of production, incorporating colour, varying the supports and themes, Samir Akchar’s work represents a constantly reinvented journey. From free figurative, outlined or distinct, to allusive figurative, his work takes on a certain independence or again comes close to the initial calligraphic gesture, but is always more and more mature and free. Humanity, love, human relationships, obstacles to communication, otherness, eroticism, music… are all tackled by Samir Akchar in his work.